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General Idea

Okay, so when looking over various D&D 3rd sites and forums I noticed a lot of hate going for the old system, certainly. But I also noticed an interesting and unusual pattern : Namely, that people tended to like the game's mechanics somewhat when characters were approximately at level 10. This is the agreed-upon point where fighting-type classes are still generally useful, yet just after mages learn a decent level of gamebreaking power. There is almost a balance in existence at this point, almost. So I crunched the numbers on what general level of saves, skills , and abilities that characters would have at this level, and kept coming up with an interesting number. Five. Five is the difference between completely shitty and average, the difference between average and awesome. Of course, later D&D 3rd products realized this correlation for skills to a fair extent, and began building skills with this in mind, but I found that it applied to ALL types of abilities at this point. There's five points difference between a fighter-type classes and even the most combat-focused other classes (not counting facility with spells). So one goal of mine is to (re?)build D&D with this concept in mind for all levels.

Warrior Class

The general idea here is to bring the Fighter class or an equivalent up to par not with the Mages, but with the Rogue, as this class is generally considered the most balanced of the available classes. Most changes are based upon the ideas presented in the Tome of Battle, though with some toning down to allow for the slightly lowered goalposts.

Mage Class

The mage of D&D 3.5 needs nerfs, this much seems to be clear to everyone. But how much nerfing? I've been playing around with a few ideas that I hope might actually tone them down without losing the unique properties that make them near and dear to my dark and terrible heart. Changes herein are based mostly upon ideas started in Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved, with a few other things thrown in either for flavor or because I found them amusing. Not saying it'll be perfect, just saying that it'll be mine. Ish.

Rogue Class

The Rogue has an interesting place here. Considered the most balanced basic class of D&D 3.5 by several sources, a lot of what I'm doing with the other two classes is actually to get comparable results from them as with the Rogue… but another part of my goal is a certain symmetry of design. And more "active" abilities for classes in general rather than passive ones. So I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this.

Prestige Classes

In its way, one of the things that drew me to 3.0 D&D initially was the fact that the base classes themselves were not the end-all-be-all of what a character can do with themselves. There were also prestige classes, classes which allowed you to hone your fighting skills, to decide that your character needed more than just the basic abilities that were provided, but interesting and thematic abilities that they could build a reputation on. And thus I would start looking into a similar concept of my own here. As such, I will add prestige classes to this list when I'm done with the basics, each allowing the capability for improvement beyond just what each individual class adds. Most importantly, I will provide Combination classes, classes that EFFECTIVELY combine the best aspects of two of the basic classes, in hopes of providing the foundation to everything that a character might want or need.

Warrior Upgrade Class(es?) - Placeholder for high-power Warrior classes. Not likely to see useMage Upgrade Class(es?) - Same as above, for mages with deep-seated power issuesRogue Upgrade Class(es?) - Because your party thief wasn't kidding when he said "I'll rob you blind!"

Warrior + Mage - Warrior-Arcanist? Duskblade? Swordsage? Spellblade? Taken seperately, magic and the sword can only do so much, but COMBINED… Note : Possibly worth adding Nine Swords-styled martial arts to.Warrior + Rogue - Not every fighter is destined for the front lines, nor is every rogue a deceitful trickster. Some prefer a little more finesse… and others just prefer to negotiate a bit more aggressively.Rogue + Mage - World shaking power, now in fast-acting street-walking variety.